The present invention related to communication via a network such as the Internet, and in particular to systems and methods for exchanging messages between an instant messaging user and an e-mail user.
The Internet offers various ways for users to communicate with other users, including electronic mail (e-mail) and instant messaging. These two communications media differ in various respects. For instance, e-mail is an open system: an e-mail user with access to the Internet can exchange e-mail messages with anyone else who has access to the Internet, regardless of which service providers the sender and recipient use.
While the openness of e-mail provides great flexibility, it also allows various abuses. For instance, most e-mail servers assume that users want to receive all incoming mail. While some systems allow a user to define various filters to block selected senders, there is generally no mechanism enabling a user to reliably limit who can send messages to that user. As a result, unwanted e-mail messages (commonly referred to as “spam”) from senders with whom a user has no prior association have become a significant problem. In addition, while e-mail servers typically require a user to log in to access his or her e-mail account, e-mail protocols generally do not include a mechanism for establishing security or trust between a sender's system and a recipient's system. Since e-mail headers can be forged, it can be difficult for a recipient of a message to be certain that a message purporting to be from a particular sender is really from that sender.
Partly as a consequence of these drawbacks, instant messaging (IM) has become increasingly popular. Instant messaging provides communication within a closed community, i.e., only registered users can send or receive messages via an instant messaging service. Because users are required to sign in to the same system (if not necessarily the same server) with a preselected user name and password before sending messages, impersonation is more difficult than with e-mail. Also, instant messaging software typically allows a user to define a list of “friends” (i.e., other registered users with whom the user wishes to communicate) and to reject or ignore messages sent by other users. Thus, the problem of unwanted messages is reduced.
Instant messaging is also appealing to some users because instant messaging client interfaces provide a more conversational and spontaneous feel than e-mail. For instance, instant messaging services generally provide information to a user about whether his friends are currently logged in or not, so that the user has some idea about whether a rapid response can be expected. The client can display messages from the user's friends on the user's screen without the user having to notice that a message has arrived or take any action to open the message. Many instant messaging clients also offer a “chat” mode, in which a window displays messages from two (or more) communicating users sequentially as they are entered; the user does not have to go through a sequence of steps to respond to a message or check to see if a reply to a previous message has come in.
Instant messaging services, however, generally limit the users who can exchange messages to a pool of subscribers, i.e., users who have accounts with the service provider. To communicate with non-subscribers (who may subscribe to a different instant messaging service or no instant messaging service), a user typically has to resort to another medium, such as e-mail, typically involving switching to a different program, protocol and user interface.
Some instant messaging services allow a non-subscriber to sign on as a guest for the limited purpose of corresponding with a particular subscriber, but this typically requires the subscriber and the guest to communicate via some other channel (e.g., e-mail) first, to arrange an instant messaging session. Various other demands may also be placed on the guest. For example, the guest generally has to use the service provider's instant messaging interface, which often requires the guest to download and install the service provider's software. The service provider may also request personal information (which the guest may not want to share) in the course of setting up an interface for the guest. Such obstacles limit the effectiveness of guest access to instant messaging services.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide an instant messaging service that expanded a user's ability to communicate with users other than fellow subscribers to the service.